


every time you look me in the eyes

by Space_Daemon



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: F/F, Fluff, I love Pacifica Northwest with all my heart, Post-Canon, Slow Burn, and so does Mabel, first-time fic, other characters/relationships to be added as they appear, so you can’t tell me it’s not real
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-29
Updated: 2018-10-04
Packaged: 2019-07-20 05:49:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,886
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16130936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Space_Daemon/pseuds/Space_Daemon
Summary: A year after their epic summer in Gravity Falls, Dipper and Mabel return for another vacation. This year, they’re determined to have as many adventures as possible alongside Pacifica.The three are now really close, but as the summer goes on, it seems like there may be something more between the two girls.





	1. We’re Back

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! This is the first fanfic I’ve ever written, so don’t judge too hard.  
> I love Mabcifica/Mabifica and I need a long, drawn-out pining fic so I decided to write one.

Dipper Pines is currently second-in-command of the Mystery Shack, an aspiring ghost-hunter, and an excellent brother/grand-nephew. He is also currently **** ****looking for his sister. Although he could have sworn she was talking to the local lifeguard, Jamie, Mabel has suddenly vanished from the gift shop.

  
This is not abnormal of Mabel, really - she has a talent for randomly disappearing when needed, and she can be surprisingly sneaky. Even in just the three days that the twins have been back in Gravity Falls, he must have jumped at her voice in what he thought was an empty room twice daily at least.

  
After carefully searching for a couple of minutes, he returns to the counter to deal with a customer, only to trip over something soft and Mabel-shaped.

  
“Here’s your change. Thank you for visiting the Mystery Sha- ack! Mabel!” He hisses, trying not to freak out the kid he just sold a couple of key rings. “What are you doing down there?” The girl is practically vibrating with excitement, and she looks around conspiratorially before speaking.

  
“Cute Lifeguard Jamie just actually talked to me!” She squeals at him in a voice that counts as hushed for her.  
“And so you’re hiding behind the counter?” Her brother smiles at her like one does at platypuses - with fondness and a little confusion. “I will never understand drama kids.” She rolls her eyes dramatically.

  
“The dude’s cute as all heck, Dip. He helps drowning children, he has floppy brown hair, he kinda smells of chlorine. You know I’ve been kinda off my game lately, bro. This is the furthest I’ve gotten with someone in ages!”

  
“Still not getting the whole hiding-behind-the-counter thing.”

  
“Look, I don’t wanna jinx it. I think he’s, like, actually pretty interesting, and I’m worried I’ll do something to wreck it. I’m not gonna risk that - I’m going to hide until he leaves. No Mabel, no wrecking, no problem.” She says this like it’s the simplest thing in the world, which it is.  
California teens seem to lead much more complicated lives than everybody here in Gravity Falls, even if the Oregon citizens occasionally have to deal with demons from a netherworldly dimension.

Everybody’s too busy for everybody else, and nobody wants to date the kid who just got out out of braces and wears sweaters in ninety-degree heat.

  
“Well I can think of one thing that’ll get you up from there. Guess who just showed up?” Dipper grins at Mabel, dragging her upwards with surprising strength and directing her head to a blonde girl standing somewhat awkwardly in the centre of the Shack.

 

Pacifica’s straight platinum hair has a couple of lilac streaks in it now, and it’s definitely longer than the last time they properly saw her. What Mabel recognises as her golf clothes are a bit more economically sensible than last summer, even though her family are really still quite rich. She seems to be sticking to her classic purple colour scheme, except for the yellow friendship bracelet that Mabel sent her for her birthday. Mabel and Dipper both have identical ones, which they raise to show her when she spots them.

She breaks out into a smile that one-year-ago-Mabel would have considered very un-Pacifica, but that now-Mabel is glad to see again. Dipper seems equally enthused to see Pacifica, and she’s pleasantly surprised. Sometimes it feels like she forced Pacifica into their lives, and it’s nice to remember that the whole family legitimately like her too.

  
Jamie has also noticed the new arrival, and he scurries over to stand in front of her. “Hey Pacifica,” he drawls, one hand brushing back his deliberately messy hair as he tries and fails to be suave. Mabel thinks it’s adorable.

  
“JJ,” Pacifica greets lukewarmly, as if she’s barely registering him there other than as an obstruction between her and the twins.

  
“Actually, going by Jamie these days,” he enthusiastically corrects her. “Thought it was a little more mature, y’know what I mean?”

  
“No idea. If you could get out of my way...”

  
“Y’know, I don’t think we hang out enough, Paz.” She cringes at his use of her nickname, which simply doesn’t seem organic coming from his mouth.  
“We hang out plenty,” she curtly replies. Her tone implies that ‘plenty’ means ‘not at all’ and that she is very much okay with that.

  
“Hah! You’re funny,” Jamie grins at her, “but for real. I feel like you brush me off whenever I try to get close to you, and that hurts, Paz.”

  
“Well unfortunately for you and everybody like you, Jamie, ‘that hurts’ is not a reason for me to say yes to you.” His face drops, but he perseveres.

  
“Look, I know we have our little rapport, and I love that. Y’know, I say something, you’re all ice queen, I drop some choice puns, and so on. But I’m tired of this dance. How’s about we take a break from dancing and get something to eat - together.” His face is less than cocky, but his words have a little swagger to them. It’s hard to see how he does it.

  
Pacifica is less than impressed, and turns on him, scowling.

“Ah, but of course. Because, when I say I’m busy doing other more important stuff and that we aren’t even friends, it of course means I’m madly in love with you. And when I say to eat dirt, it must be code for me saying I’m totally up for you to follow me around like a weirdo shadow. I mean what’s not to love about you? I mean, you’re annoying, arrogant, borderline stalkerish, clingy, creepy, and I’m just going alphabetically here. Would you like for me to continue? Or will you finally just leave. Me. ALONE?”

She punctuates her final question by stomping away from him into the employee break room. Like a startled rabbit, Jamie runs out of the shack without a moment’s hesitation.

Immediately, Mabel’s heart breaks in a number of ways. First of all, she too loves with everything she has, and recognises how much it can crush you to just be rejected straight up. Secondly, her suspicions that he doesn’t feel like she does have just been confirmed in what feels like the most obnoxious, and at the same time oblivious, way. The third way has more to do with the fact that she knows Pacifica isn’t really doing anything wrong. Even if she isn’t going about it particularly kindly, it’s Paz’s right to turn down anybody she wants to, and Mabel feels bad for resenting her over that. And finally, she had - somewhat foolishly, if her inner Dipper has anything to say about it - believed that Pacifica was going to be nicer this summer. So much for that. Turns out, a mean streak like hers isn’t going anywhere straight away, which Mabel guesses makes sense.

Her parents have had all year to brainwash her back to her old self and even the Pines twins’ unwavering support over text and Skype can’t fight that kind of control.

  
“I guess we’re back,” sighs Dipper. Mabel nods.

  
“Well, I’m gonna take my break now,” she informs him, “seems kinda like Paz needs me. You got this?”

He looks around the shop at the only four people inside. Two are clearly a couple, one is an elderly woman he vaguely recognises from town, and the last is an unidentifiable Corduroy brother.

  
“Think I can handle it,” he offers sarcastically. She hands him a sticker which reads ‘I can will have done it!!’

Mabel is currently very into the cheap, poorly-translated motivational stickers that she bought in bulk from China.

  
“Thanks, Dip. You’re the best.” She leaves him helping out the Corduroy - Billy? Germaine? - and quietly opens the door to the break room.

Light streams in through the window, catching in Pacifica’s pale hair. She’s sat on the floor, arms wrapped as tightly around Waddles as they can go, close to tears. Her cropped jacket is lying against one wall, crumpled angrily, and the backpack that has all the charms Mabel sent her for Christmas hanging from it has been unceremoniously dumped out onto the floorboards.

Mabel jumps onto the floor, landing cross-legged with an uncomfortable bump.

  
“Hey,” she says softly. Pacifica doesn’t look up so she wraps her arms around both her and the pig, who is wearing the employee of the month badge that has literally never gone to any other employee. It makes her smile a little, and she considers trying to make Pacifica talk to her.

A year ago, she would’ve been doing it already, but Dipper has impressed upon her the importance of boundaries, so she remains silent.

  
So close to two of her favourite ‘people’, she feels quite at peace. It’s warm here, even for Oregon, Waddles is making little snuffling sounds in her arms, and Pacifica’s hair smells of lavender.

  
“I’m sorry,” the girl finally says, still not looking at her friend. “Jamie can be a jerk, but I was really rude to him. I don’t even realise I’m doing it a lot of the time, but I know that isn’t an excuse.”

The pair sit up and Mabel pets Waddles to calm his complaints at the lack of attention. Pacifica’s green eyes are tinged pink, and she’s pouting miserably. If there’s one thing about Pacifica that Mabel never expected, it’s how emotive she really is. It’s kinda hard to get mad at her when she looks so upset.

  
“It’s okay. You get to say no if you want, even if you were kinda mean when you said it. You could talk to him about it,” she suggests. Pacifica nods.

  
“I will. I just wish that wasn’t our reunion after months of not seeing each other. You guys left just when we were becoming friends, and now the first time you see me I’m being awful to someone. Can we start fresh?” She asks, tucking her hair behind her ear. Mabel smiles softly, the kind of smile that could cut through a person’s doubt, fear, or anger like gentle sunlight through heavy rainclouds.

  
“Of course, silly-billy. What’re friends for?” Pacifica breathes a sigh of relief. “Okay, lemme start.” She schools her features into a blank expression, then looks up at her friend in total shock.

“Ohmygod Pacifica! I missed you so much! It’s been a million years!” Pacifica laughs, and plays along, embracing her friend for the ‘first’ time.

  
“Mabel! You’re right, it’s been so long! You cut your hair, I like it.” Mabel unconsciously brings a hand to her much-shorter hair, now barely chin-length. It’s become more curly since she cut it in May, and fluffier. Pacifica smooths her own hair, long and sleek like a cheetah. “It almost makes me want to cut all of mine off.” Mabel laughs.

  
“You’d look kinda funky bald, Paz. No offence. But I think the purple stripes are really amazing, so there’s that.” Pacifica half-smiles.

  
“You wouldn’t say that if you had seen my mother react to it. I thought she was going to have a fit.” It’s always hard to work out how much of Paz’ jokes are simply true stories, but Mabel laughs anyway.

  
“So what’s it like being third in command here, then?”

  
“Absolutely amazing!”

With Soos now heading up the Shack, the Grunkles travelling the world, and Wendy currently busy with college tours, the twins are pretty much automatically assistant managers. Mabel’s thriving under the pressure, and Dipper is drowning in it every couple hours.

“Soos is like the awesomest boss we’ve ever had AND he lets us use the break room! And Melody’s helping out whenever she can.”

Soos’ very pregnant fiancé technically no longer works at the shack, seeing as she isn’t exactly fit for work any more, but that doesn’t stop her from spending way too much time there.

  
“That’s great,” Pacifica replies, and she’s genuinely smiling. Mabel loves making tricky people happy, and Paz is her passion project.

  
“What about you? You know Jamie?”

Mabel tries to be casual about it, but there’s nothing about her that doesn’t scream how invested she is in this mini-drama.

Pacifica notices this, and replies,  
“He’s in my math and world history class, and he sits next to me. Y’know, Pacifica Northwest? JJ Nielsen? He’s one of those people who just talks and talks and never shuts up- no offence,” she hastily adds. Mabel shrugs.

  
“None taken.”

  
“And he got it into his head last Christmas that we were like, friends or something. I’ve been telling him to buzz off since then, and he never gets the hint. And just then, he just wouldn’t move and I haven’t seen you guys in so long - I guess it all just kinda bubbled to the surface. Sorry.”

Her breathing is becoming heavier, and she starts feeling tears prick her eyes once again.

  
Mabel sighs, then gestures for Pacifica to turn around. She does so, a little confused, and starts when Mabel touches her hair. She tries to turn around, but Mabel pushes her face away -

  
“Just gimme a second.” - and continues gathering up the hair. After brushing her hands through it a couple of times, Mabel begins to braid Pacifica’s hair as she leans over Waddles, intent on her craft.

  
“It’s not me you need to apologise to, Paz. But I’m happy you did. Now tell me all the Gravity Falls goss from the last year.”

  
Pacifica reluctantly leans back and closes her eyes.

 __ __  
“Okay, well first of all let me tell you all about Sheriff and Deputy Blubs’s wedding, m’kay?”


	2. Mabel’s Variety Twenty Minutes

“And that’s when I realised that it had been Schmebuloc the whole time!” Dipper’s talking at the speed of light, obsessed with detailing every paranormal encounter he’s ever had to Pacifica when she doesn’t have the chance to hang up on him.

“Wait, how did he get to California? I thought he was like ten inches tall?”

“He is! But he pulled another ‘Norman’ using forest animals! It was crazy! You kinda forget about how weird everything is in Gravity Falls when you’ve been away for a while,” he replies. Mabel nods in agreement from where she’s hanging upside-down in the doorway. Apparently joining the gymnastics team made her into Spiderman or something, because she can hold herself there using only a bar that Soos helped her attach to the doorframe.

“Like, you can’t forget about all this cray-cray,” she explains, “but when people who don’t always deal with it have to, it’s really weird. A gnome loose on the Oakland Bay Bridge is like a million times weirder than a thousand gnomes loose in some random Oregon forest, y’know?”

“I feel like there’s some deep philosophical insight from this conversation that I’m missing,” replies her brother. Pacifica, who’s been squinting at an article about the whole shenanigan for the past five minutes, looks up suddenly, asking,

“Wait. Why is it so dark?” Dipper checks his watch.

“It’s almost eight pm. Wow, time flies, huh?”

Pacifica and the Pines twins have been talking for three straight hours, ever since the Shack closed. Knowing full well that her curfew is eight thirty, Pacifica resigns herself to going home. She sighs loudly, and begins gathering her things up from the floor. Mabel swings around through her arms and onto the ground, asking,

“D’you really have to go, Paz? We haven’t seen you in forever?” Pacifica shrugs on her jacket and tosses the curtain of pale hair out from underneath it, rolling her eyes.

“My parents would kill me if they knew I was out past curfew, and we’ve been kinda getting along recently. I don’t wanna mess it up. Plus, we’ve got all summer to hang out. I’ll see you guys tomorrow, alright?” Dipper looks annoyed, and Mabel pouts. If Pacifica’s sad face makes it hard to be mad at her, Mabel’s makes it impossible not to want to make her happy. Pacifica tries not to be moved by the girl’s big brown eyes, but it’s only a couple of seconds before she breaks.

“Ugh, fine! I guess I could be a little late. I haven’t eaten anything since this morning anyway. How’s about we all go get some dinner before I go home?” Mabel lights up like a candelabra and Dipper grins.

“Great. The diner sound okay?” Pacifica nods, and the pair run up to their room, where neither has actually unpacked, to grab their things.

“Soos!” Mabel yells from the attic, “we’re going out for food!” Soos’ calm tone replies from the kitchen.

“Okay, dudes, but be back by nine - you gotta sleep!” Pacifica, feeling awkward left alone in someone else’s house, decides to greet him properly. She enters the kitchen, a little overwhelmed by the bright light of the everlasting bulb in the ceiling. Soos is sat at the table, reading a baby book. He doesn’t have his hat on, and Pacifica is reminded that he actually has hair.

“Hi, Soos,” she says a little shyly, feeling bad for not knowing his name for so long.

“Hey dude. You kids havin’ a good time?” He asks the question more to assuage her nerves than anything else, and Pacifica can’t help but appreciate it.

“Yeah, it’s been awesome seeing them in real life for once. I kinda forget that Dipper’s just as loud and talkative as Mabel a lot of the time,” she replies, and he gives her a toothy smile. She sits down opposite him and reads the title of his book - ‘So You Think You Can Parent’. “Are you excited for your baby to be born?” His eyes light up and he starts bouncing up and down a little.

“Yeah, I’m stoked! I never really thought about little dudes that much, but Mabel and Dipper helped me figure out that they’re pretty radical after all. The baby’s due in three or four weeks and Mel’s pretty much all about getting this pregnant thing over with.” His eyes have glossed over a little, and he’s smiling wider than any non-Mabel entity she’s ever seen.

It’s a little hard for her, seeing how excited Soos is to be a father. She doesn’t know quite why. It’s not like her parents didn’t want a baby or anything, far from it. But they never seem very excited about her, Pacifica, one way or the other. The little Mabel in the back of her head tells her that she should still be happy for Soos, dangit. He’s gonna be amazeballs as a dad! She shudders at how accurate that Mabel sounds, then smiles at Soos.

“You’re gonna be a great dad. Do you know the sex?” Soos nods, grins, and withdraws a brown envelope from his pocket, shakily handing it to her. The action reminds her of how a child might offer their parents something they made that they’re very proud of, and she feels her heart warm for Soos. Inside the envelope is a card from the doctor, which Pacifica reads aloud.

“‘Soos and Melody, congrats on your babytwins? Your baby boy and girl are going to be amazing.’ Wow, is this family just a magnet for twins?” He laughs heartily, but shushes her as they hear footsteps on the stairs.

“I haven’t told them yet,” he explains quietly, “because we want to name the babies after them.” Pacifica fights the urge to coo at him, instead whispering back,

“Won’t that be confusing? Two Mabels and two Dippers?” He shakes his head excitedly.

“Mel thought of that, and we got a fix for it! It’s gonna be their middle names, so we don’t mix ‘em up!”

Mabel rockets into the kitchen in a white and purple letterman jacket that looks a little too big for her (though honestly, Mabel doesn’t own a single piece of outerwear that’s her size) and jumps up onto the table between Pacifica and Soos, not noticing Pacifica subtly pass him back the envelope. Dipper, wearing a suspiciously familiar grey trench coat, enters after her holding his backpack.

“Hey Soos,” Pacifica says hesitantly, “would you... like to come with us? Get something to eat?” Dipper seems a little confused, but Mabel enthusiastically adds,

“Yeah! You could bring Melody!” Soos, however, shakes his head.

“No can do, dudes. She’s eight months pregnant and right now she’s not really the ‘leaving the house after five pm’ kinda lady. Plus, I’m already making Mel something.”

“I didn’t know you cooked, Soos,” Dipper says, surprised.

“Nah, not really. But I love ‘er and I want to make her happy, so I try.” Mabel squeals excitedly, kicking her legs and folding in on herself.

“Omigosh you guys are sooo cute!” She turns to Pacifica, hair flying out behind her as she leans in to whisper to her friend. “Aren’t they adorable, Paz?” Pacifica nods, trying not to laugh at how serious Mabel’s wide-eyed face is. Dipper starts making small snuffling noises that betray his laughter.

“Well,” he manages to say without cracking up, “we should go. Bye, Soos.” Soos waves them off with a smile, pushing Mabel off the table and hurrying the three out the door and into the mild evening air.

A short while later, the three arrive at the diner and slide into a booth, Mabel and Pacifica opposite Dipper. Almost immediately, the waitress, obviously frazzled and distracted comes up to them.

“Hi, you folks know what you want or would you like to start with dr- Oh my God, it’s you guys! Hi!” Dipper looks up to see Tambry, hair now blue, with an uncharacteristic smile on her face.

“Hey Tambry,” greets Mabel enthusiastically, hugging her. Tambry reciprocates, then gently pushes her off after it becomes clear that Mabel can hug for as long as you let her. The younger girl snatches up the menu on the table and points to the two items circled in bright pink gel pen. “Can I get the waffles and just a whole bottle of syrup and a pink milkshake?”

“Okay, syrupy waffles and The Mabel it is,” the girl replies, writing faster than Dipper has ever seen her do anything and talking twice that speed. “And for you guys?” Pacifica scans the menu carefully, and Dipper asks,

“Do you guys still do nachos?”

“Yup. It’s crazy that you guys are back, it feels like just a couple months since you left. Wow, and with Pacifica? Things really have changed.” Pacifica freezes, trying to figure out if she was just insulted or not.

“Yeah, Paz is one of us now,” Mabel informs her. “She’s even in the group chat. We made her promise to hang out with us when we came.”

“What happened to the pro wrestler and the midget?” Tambry asks, sliding into the seat next to Dipper as she gives up the pretence of working.

“You mean Grenda and Candy? Candy’s in Korea for a couple weeks visiting family, and Grenda‘ staying in Austria with her boyfriend until August. But hey,” she says, wrapping an arm around a nervous Pacifica, “Pacifica’s pretty cool when you get to know her!”

“Shut up, Mabel,” Pacifica jokes, blushing. Still, she leans into her friend’s embrace. “Anyway, I’ll have chilli fries, thanks.” Tambry’s jaw drops.

“You got Pacifica saying ‘thank you’?” she stage whispers to Mabel. “You’re good!” Mabel grins as Pacifica hides her face in the girl’s arm. Dipper rolls his eyes, but smiles proudly.

“Okay,” Tambry says, “I’ll get your food now. Great to see you guys back in town!”

The girl hurries off with greater urgency than Mabel has ever seen in her.

“Wow, what happened to Tambry?” Mabel asks. “She used to be so... prickly. Now she’s really sweet.” Dippers nods in agreement.

“Yeah, she’s acting like nothing’s changed. Everything’s changed. Her hair’s changed!” Pacifica laughs at them.

“Wait, you don’t know? Tambry moved out of her parents’ house.” Dipper furrows his eyebrows, ripping apart a paper straw.

“Really? But she’s only sixteen!” Pacifica nods, then leans in conspiratorially.

“She moved in with Robbie’s parents. Turns out, her folks are like, really poor, and she wasn’t eating enough. Apparently that’s really bad for teens or something. Now she’s really happy because the Valentinos can actually afford to feed her.”

“No way! She and Robbie live together? That’s like every great love story ever! One person’s down on their luck and moves in with the other, then romance blossoms. But their romance already blossomed!” Mabel bounces up and down in her seat, and even Dipper seems interested.

“Yeah, those two really seem like they’re gonna make it,” the blonde says. She smiles a little, and Mabel shrieks, pointing at her.

“Ha! You care about other people! You’re happy that they’re happy, even though you don’t even really know them. Pacifica Northwest, you are a good person.” Pacifica groans, dropping her head to the table.

“Is this gonna be like when I asked Dipper how his day was, even though he didn’t ask first?” Mabel shakes her head.

“No way - this is way better!” Pacifica flips her hair over her face and sinks down in the booth until she’s nothing but hair in a purple denim jacket. Dipper laughs, interjecting,

“Welcome to the Mabel experience. Imagine living with this for thirteen years, but you can’t ever get away.”.

 

As they wait for Tambry’s return, Mabel shrugs off her jacket and goes over to the jukebox - an old, decrepit contraption with only about four working songs on it. She inserts a small handful of change and presses buttons without reading the names of the songs she’s selecting.

“What’s she doing?” Pacifica asks, kneeling on the seat to watch Mabel. Dipper sighs wearily and rests his chin on his hands.

“It’s Mabel’s Variety Twenty Minutes. She selects a bunch of songs at random, then does commentary on them like a radio DJ or a music critic. It seems fun the first time, but after a while you start to freak out just at the sight of a jukebox.” Mabel returns to the table just as the first song starts to play. Immediately Dipper sits up, ears straining to confirm his thought. Pacifica’s head also whips around to listen more intently to the tune that’s just starting to build.

“Ah,” Mabel begins in her ‘fancy announcer’ voice, “a classic song from the turning point between the seventies and eighties. I expect that my fellow connoisseurs have recognised this classic Icelandic ditty by what some have dubbed the Gods of Pop. Though many view them as girly, I think my brother would concur that BABA are really a group for the whole family; this upbeat funk fest of a jam is their breakout hit. Everybody, let’s enjoy Disco Girl.” As she stops speaking, the band begins the lead-in to the chorus. Dipper may or may not be humming along, while Pacifica is mumbling the lyrics.

“Wow,” the blonde interrupts herself, “you’re really good at that, Mabes.” Mabel giggles, tossing her hair back dramatically.

“Aw, shucks.” At that moment, the chorus kicks in and Dipper and Pacifica can’t contain their love for it any longer.

“Disco Girl!” Dipper dramatically begins, his voice ever squeakier than it was last year. Pacifica responds with her own,

“Coming through!” Her voice is sweeter, pretty good even when she’s playing around. The two make eye contact and grin as they harmonise on the chorus.

“That girl is you: oo-oo-ooh, oo-oo-ooh!” Dipper climbs up onto his seat and mimes a microphone. Pacifica sits on the back of her and Mabel’s seat and does the same as the chorus repeats. The handful of people in the diner turn to watch the display as the pair start to honest to god perform for the patrons.

“Disco Girl, coming through, that girl is you!” The audience echo the vocalising with them as Mabel applauds at random intervals. The song continues as Dipper starts dancing awkwardly, arms moving in strange configurations. Pacifica doesn’t really dance, but moves to the beat in a way that forces Mabel to stare at her. She has her eyes closed as she sings, smiling faintly as she taps her foot. Her hair is a little messy and her cheeks a little pink, and Pacifica Northwest suddenly looks like the most beautiful girl in the world.

The song fades to an end and another starts up, this time unfamiliar, so Dipper and Pacifica sit back down to gracious applause. Dipper turns to his sister.

“Okay, give us the business for this song, Mabel - Mabel? You okay?” Mabel’s eyes have glassed over and she’s blushing. Pacifica snaps her fingers in front of the girl’s face, and she focuses on her brother.

“Yeah?”

“It’s Variety Twenty Minutes. Are you gonna do this song?” She shakes her head.

“Nah, I’d just be upstaging... whatever that was,” she replies. Luckily the three don’t have to sit in silence, as their food arrives.

“There you go, guys,” Tambry says, setting their food down.

“Thanks,” Pacifica says, leaving Tambry speechless as she walks away backwards, unable to remove her eyes from the girl. Mabel has somehow already got syrup all over the lower half of her face, and Dipper’s mouth is bulging with cheesy chips. The three settle into their respective meals and eat quietly in the sea of chatter, making eye contact every now and again and feeling warmth flood through them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m British, (hence the spelling), so if I make any mistakes about American culture feel free to drop a correction in the comments!  
> Also I actually looked up the official colours of Piedmont Middle/High School to get Mabel’s varsity jacket because it’s like, the cutest image to me. So that’s accurate.

**Author's Note:**

> So, there you go. I’m gonna try and figure out updates and stuff at some point, but for now I have no schedule and the next chapter’s decidedly longer.  
> Hope you enjoyed!


End file.
